About Maryknoll Lay Missioners:

Maryknoll Lay Missioners is a Catholic organization inspired by the mission of Jesus to live and work in poor communities in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, responding to basic needs and helping to create a more just and compassionate world. Lay missioners serve in the areas of health care, education, agriculture, ecology, children's and women's rights and initiatives, community organizing, economic development, peace and justice initiatives, pastoral care and formation of faith-based communities.

There are nearly Maryknoll Lay Missioners serving in 15 countries in Asia, Africa and North and South America. Ministry sites are in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe; Cambodia, East Timor, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam; Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico, and Peru and on the U.S.-Mexico border.


Read our motivation for joining Maryknoll below.

Would you like to learn more? Check out the website for Maryknoll Lay Missioners.

Why we are missioners with Maryknoll

Steve– I feel God’s call to serve the poor and to develop relationships that will challenge me and my assumptions about the world. I have become increasingly aware of the great discrepancy between my first world standard of living and the standard of living of the poor in materially impoverished nations. I recognize that I will never be able to fully advocate for those who are marginalized or recognize Christ in those who are poor, unless I struggle with this discrepancy and build relationships with people in poverty. I believe that to grow in my capacity to love, I must grow in my capacity to suffer and be compassionate. Through our mission work as a family, I am hopeful that my children will have experiences that ground them in God’s love, justice, and compassion. I would like them to appreciate the diversity of God’s people and to understand the option for the poor as a living experience.

Laura– The possibility of serving overseas as a missioner has been in my mind and heart for some time. Now, I have a growing desire to open myself to more fully live out the Gospel call to serve and be with those who are poor. At this time in my life, together with Steve in each of these elements, I have a strong commitment to living with ‘right relationships’ – with God, with others and with creation. I am ready to expand my experiences of being on the margins, and of other cultural ways of approaching worship, community, and family. I hope to experience a broader sense of the Body of Christ with those who are forgotten or exploited across the globe.